Tuesday, April 24, 2012

On Message, By Rote, Walker Tells Growing Tall Tale

[First published, Monday, April 23, 7:31 p.m.] Today's political lesson: With a funding advantage in the multi-millions of dollars raised out-of-state, see Walker stay on message, undermine the grassroots citizen-led nature of the recall movement underway against him and inflate his self-importance. Machiavellian Manipulation 101.

*  From a terrific Bill Lueders' Isthmus piece more than 14 months ago (and the italics are mine) way before the recall movement took shape:

Last week he was asked by the Wisconsin State Journal whether the measures he's seeking "in more ways than one, if not killing the unions now, would lead to their ultimate irrelevance and probable [demise]" — because without collective bargaining their role would be so limited that employees would stop paying dues, as Walker's bill allows. The governor conceded the point, saying, "Presumably, that's why there's so many national union leaders here because, politically, they want the money."
 *  Then from Politico via Fox nearly a year later, with the recall a growing certainty (again, the italics are mine):
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is likely to face a recall election later this year after organizers looking to oust the governor turned in a whopping million signatures supporting their cause, said Wednesday that the effort to oust him is “all about the union money.”
“The real bottom line is, the national unions want their hands on the money,” Walker said in an interview with Fox News. “It’s all about the union money, it’s not about the workers’ money — they want those automatic dues, and they’ll spend just about anything to get that back.”
* And with the recall campaign underway, Walker's tall tale gets taller, as you can see in an interview just this past Sunday, but note that he's still on message, though his nose is getting longer (italics added, again):
The left, the radical left, and the big labor union bosses are somehow counting on the idea that they can bring enough money and enough bodies into Wisconsin to dissuade voters,” Walker told Newsmax. “... I think that they’re hoping somehow they can defeat us, so that would discourage anybody from making tough decisions again.
Then the unproven, unprovable whopper:
The embattled Wisconsin governor has estimated that unions and special-interest groups may pour as much as $60 million into their controversial attempt to send his administration packing.







1 comment:

Jake formerly of the LP said...

It's like the old Seinfeld line "It's not a lie if you believe it." Or if losers in the 262 believe it, for that matter.